*Aristarchus *Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 B.C.), was a astronomer often referred to as the Copernicus of antiquity, laid the foundation for much scientific examination of the heavens. According to his contemporary, Archimedes, Aristarchus was the first to propose not only a heliocentric universe, but one larger than any of the geocentric universes proposed by his predecessors. *Copernicus himself originally gave credit to Aristarchus in his own heliocentric treatise, De revolutionibus caelestibus , where he had …showed first 75 words of 1082 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1082 total…of the moon. Later, in the first century BC, Seneca mentioned the possibility of a rotating earth, but did not necessarily believe that it was possible. *Overall, Aristarchus was a pioneer both in his depiction of the universe and his geometric approach to the measurement of the heavenly bodies. He contributed a great deal to both geometry and astronomy, and his methods, as adapted by Hipparchus and others, were used well into the 17th century